


My brother John

by ClaraCivry (Kat_Of_Dresden)



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Mbege is kind of sweet, Past Child Abuse, Pre-show, a bit of angst, also, did I say friendship?, murphy and mbege are cellmates, why they were locked up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-05-23 20:48:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6129622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kat_Of_Dresden/pseuds/ClaraCivry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mbege gets a new cellmate, and it's a kid named John like him. Just a cellmate at first, then a friend to talk, then family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My brother John

Mbege had changed cellmates a couple of times, as they aged out and were floated. 

So, he'd been glad he got a much younger partner. His age, actually, this kid was fourteen like him. He'd seen him around the station, but never talked much, just knew the things everybody knew. That he was a low level bully, an angry kid who would take anything you had for himself. A bad influence, an angry kid way too problematic to be useful for the Ark. Everybody knew that he'd end up locked up, but probably didn't expect him to end up locked so soon. 

Because both their names were John, they called each other by their last name. Murphy seemed to like it, and he didn't mind it either. In fact, Mbege liked Murphy. He was as angry with everything as he was, he was determined, he was willing to do anything, tired of being stepped on. And he was witty and sarcastic and smarter than he would've ever thought. Than anyone would ever think, probably. They couldn't see past the bully ways and the aggression. And it was bullshit, because now neither of them would study, neither of them would prove those idiots wrong. 

Now they were just waiting to die. 

Murphy and Mbege talked a lot, since they had nothing better to do. They talked about they would do if they ever got out, imagined and planned a number of escapes from the cell, all of their bloody revenge. The things that they missed from back home. Turned out Murphy didn't have a home to go back to (neither did Mbege and it was nice to know that he wasn't alone in that). He couldn't see it at first, but with time Mbege started noticing a great sadness in his friend. As if all the violence was just there to distract himself from the melancholy. 

They got to know each other very well, because they talk so much. By the time they were fifteen (and it's funny isn't it? they're both John, they have the same initials, the same age) Murphy knew practically everything about Mbege. He knew about the songs they used to sing together, the stupid game they played every sunday. Murphy knew that if he got out, Mbege would get an enormous room with three beds and two computers, just for him. 

Mbege also told Murphy about the smuggling, and how it was something he'd never even doubted, because it was something that the whole family did. No one had ever been caught, his family had taught him very insistently about the importance of a red herring. And then on a specially big job everything had fallen apart, and they were caught. His grandfather and his parents had been floated and he'd been locked up. He was locked up, but at least got to say goodbye. Better than nothing. He'd told Murphy all his stories with the smuggling, where they hid the parts, how to steal them, how to make deals. Mbege had told Murphy practically everything. 

Murphy hadn't been so forthcoming at first. He talked about his dad a lot, about what a great guy he was, funny and smart and affectionate, and that his mom used to tuck him in. He talked about what an injustice his father's death had been and how it had ruined everything for everyone.

And then, slowly but surely, he started talking about his mom. How different she'd become, how disgusted by her son's very presence. That she'd been mean to him, sometimes even hit him when she was drunk. That she traded both her and his rations for moonshine and that one time they spent one week without eating, and that she slapped him when he cried. He told Mbege that he'd been almost relieved when she died and that he'd left there, not knowing what to do with the body. Just left her there, accusing. 

(Mbege knew that Murphy felt his father's death was his fault, and wanted to tell it wasn't, but didn't have the eloquence or capacity to say something that would convince him. Mbege had never been good with words)

But after all that time, Murphy had never told him why he'd been arrested. Not a single word, even if Mbege had asked. Repeatedly. But Murphy didn't tell (at least not yet) and so Mbege started concocting some theories. HIs first and most logical theory was that he¡d been arrested for stealing people's ration when his mom was on a bender. Maybe he didn't want to say it because it wasn't cool enough. Mbege had three generations of awesome smugglers and he was there 'cos he'd wanted to eat. Not really cool. (And they were teenagers who thought themselves the coolest of cools).

Theory number two, someone made fun of him, or his dad (who was Murphy weak point) and he'd fought them, maybe even lost control a little. Because he was Murphy, and he was like that, he wouldn't have cared if there were witnesses, and just gone at them with great force, maybe thrown in a sarcastic one-liner in the midst. But if he was just defending himself or his dad, why not tell him? Why hide it?

Theory number three: it had something to do with his mother. Murphy had loved his mother, very much, but also resented the way she'd treated him. How worthless she'd made him feel, how she blamed him for his dad's death. Maybe the people who found her body after days there thought Murphy had something to do with her death. Maybe not reporting she was dead was the crime in itself. 

Or maybe they tried taking him into foster care and he resisted. Mbege knew that Murphy wouldn't accept anyone else trying to take his father's role. He wouldn't have tolerated it. Theory number four it had been something petty, like a sarcasm thrown in the wrong moment that got him a charge of treason, or threatening a high ranking officer. 

After some time, Mbege stopped wondering. What mattered was that Murphy was his firend, and that if they ever got out, they'd be an unstoppable team. Murphy would be the words and the brains and Mbege would support. It felt almost as if he had family again, someone to guide him, and he liked that. 

They had each other's backs, each other's secrets. Like that time Mbege saw a girl he was stealing from naked and almost dropped the pieces. Like Murphy's problem with too-vivid nightmares. They could count on each other. They had spent enough time together to 

So Mbege wondered, but didn't press it. 

It was shortly after turning sixteen that he found out the truth. 

Murphy was sick, had some sort of stomach bug, and he hated being sick above all things. Hated every little second of it. He was pale, and feverish and could hardly move from his bunk. He shivered and Mbege was slightly at a loss as to what to do, because even if he could help with the fever and put a bucket when he puked, but being sick broke Murphy for many other reasons. 

It brought back horrible memories, and made him feel disgusted and depressed. It was because he hadn't been strong enough that all had gone to hell. So Mbege tried to distract him, with old stories and new fantasies, until he runs out of them. 

And Murphy blurted it out, because he needed to distract himself. 

"I kept his credentials. My dad's. And his weapon. I was supposed to give them to the guards, because with them I had access to too many places on the ship, and with the weapon.... well, you know. So for me it was a memory, but for them it was illegal possession. I'd done so many more horrible things, and they arrest me for the only memory I had of him."

"I imagined it had to do with a fight or something."

"It wasn't." Murphy said melancholic. Mbege hates when his friend get teary eyed. He'd rather have the cocky sarcastic kind-of-an-asshole Murphy all the time. "They took everything from me, and blamed for having it in the first place. I tried to tell them that I'd done nothing bad with it, but they wouldn't listen. They took it from me, even that. And yeah, of course I fought those damn guards when they took my dad's things, so they added assault to the charges."

"That's bullshit."

"Yeah, I know."

Mbege wanted to tell Murphy that it would be okay, that when they got out he'd help him even the score. He promised himself that if he got out for some reason, he'd look for Murphy's dad's things to give them back to him. He never forgot.

When they told they were being sent back to the ground, Mbege was simply happy. Because as the ship, he looked at Murphy and realised that he was leaving for earth with his brother.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked! Feedback makes my day :)
> 
> You can send me prompts to my tumblr (claracivry.tumblr.com/ask)
> 
> Our boy Murphy deserves more love


End file.
